ABSTRACT
The previous chapter examined trends in popular music in the years since the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and the onset of full-scale Westernization. By contrast, the present chapter focuses primarily on the emergence and development, during the same period, of ‘the composer’ (sakkyoku-ka) in the Western classical sense. We will be dealing with figures who saw themselves producing music of high quality and moral value, regardless of whether popularity and profit would ensue: they aimed to produce ‘art music’ (Geijutsu ongaku). While many continued to take the West as their dominant point of reference, others were led to reflect on what it means to be a ‘Japanese’ composer in this modern world. Our subject is yōgaku, ‘Western music’, a term which embraces Western-style music of both Japanese and Western origin; some use it with specific reference to classical music, others to popular musics as well.
